GOLF NEWS by Ric de Vera

Fijian golfer Daven Naidu of Minchinbury won the 20th PAL Kalayaan cup golf tournament held at the prestigious Macquarie Links International Golf Club on June 8, 2015. The tournament was held in conjunction with the 117th anniversary celebration of the proclamation of Philippine Independence. His unbeatable score of 43 points under the stableford scoring system using his handicap of 23 from ParE Golf Social Club gave him the edge over the rest of the 117 participants. He was awarded with the championship trophy, economy class return airfare to Manila courtesy of Philippine Airlines and the privilege to engrave his name in the monumental perpetual trophy. He also received the symbolic RP flag motif jacket for his win. “(It) was a great day for me. (I) didn’t expect to win but guess I was lucky. Didn’t have a clue that I was in the running to win as there were so many other great players” said an ecstatic Daven.

Division winners were: Art Phiyasirikul for A with score of 37 points using handicap of 4 from Thai Golf Association; Romy Rablizo for B with score of 36 points using handicap of 15 from Jokers/Fairgolf; Glen Blain for C with score of 32 points using handicap of 19 from Hurstville Golf Club; and Michael Baylon for D with score of 34 points using handicap of 29 from ParE Golf. These winners received $150 cash prize, trophies and golf balls for their exceptional efforts.

Division runners up were: Buddy Nagi for A with score of 36 points using 1 handicap from Thai Golf Association; Rudy Chong for B with score of 33 points using handicap of 15 from Indonesia Golf Association; Nep Palomo for C with score of 30 points using handicap of 25 from Fil-oz and Jun dela Pena for D with score of 33 points using handicap of 30 from WSGA. For being the runners up in their divisions, these winners were awarded $100 cash prize, trophies and golf balls.

Ladies division champion was Prescy Keogh with score of 36 points using her handicap of 11 from NSW Golf & Country Club. This was closely followed by Ella Wong with score of 36 points using her 18 handicap from Moore Park Golf Club, as the runner up. They both received cash prizes and trophies donated by Toti Umali.

Novelty prize winners of $30 each on all par 3’s were Romy Tablizo (hole no 5), Paul Abordo (hole no 8), Helen Solazzo (hole no 11) and Art Phiyasirikul for hole no 15. No one won the best putting competition.

In her message, the Honourable Philippine Consul General in Sydney, Anne Jalando-on Louis emphasized the meaning of the term ‘Kalayaan’ which is freedom. She mentioned the theme of this year’s celebration i.e., “Tagumpay sa Pagbabagong Nasimulan, Abot-Kamay na ng Bayan” or “Triumphs through reforms, within nation’s reach”. She acknowledged the continued support of golfers from other Asian countries, congratulated Fil-oz golf club and expressed appreciation to the sponsors, particularly the national flag carrier, Philippine Airlines. She was very happy that the weather was perfect unlike in the previous years.

On his part, this writer as Fil-oz president acknowledged the support of various sponsors, particularly Ian Robinson, Country Manager of Philippine Airlines, Aris Ortanez, Marketing director of AICL/AIH Higher Education, Delfin Posada of LBC, Liz Angeles of Megaworld and R.O. Biala, CPA’s.

This writer also expressed his appreciation for the support given by different Social golf clubs presidents, namely Sutti Sutontanyakorn of Thai Golf Association; Rey Garcia of Golf ParE Social club, Ariel Pattugalan of Filcom Sports Club of Canberra, Ralph Posadas of Jokers, Dinky Baso of Indonesian Golf Association, Vangie Leones of West Sydney Golf and Prescy Keogh for inviting her Australian friends from NSW, Avondale, Concord, Moore Park and Hurstville Golf clubs. Other groups represented were Pogi, Divotees, Fairgolf, and Puro Golf clubs.

This writer also thanked Jodie Kelly, Event Manager of Macquarie Links Int’l Golf Club for the use of the course and for the chef for cooking the sumptuous Filipino food lunch such as adobo, kare-kare, chicken curry, etc.

Donald Lopez, the founding president of Filoz and responsible for starting the Philippine Independence day cup in 1996 was acknowledged along with Glenn Tahimic who had been the Rules and Tabulation committee head for many years. Buddy Zabat who lives nearby and assisted in negotiating for lower cost and availability of the course was also applauded.

Appreciation and thanks were extended to Mike Garcia, former PAL Sydney Manager for initiating the prize of return airfares to Manila. He was also instrumental in paving the way for golfers from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to participate in the annual PAL Interclub Golf tournament in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, the Aguman Capampangan golf tournament held on June 7, 2015 at Rosnay Golf course was won by Fred Bacucang from Blair Athol and Pogi member. He scored 66 points under System 36 method of scoring. Division winners were Danny Martinez for A; Gavin Singh for B and Ome Gaerlan for C. These winners received cash prizes and trophies.

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Ahmid Takes 9th AICL Education Cup In an unprecented win, Ahmid Domingo, takes the 9th AICL Education Cup held on October 7 at Twin Creek Golf & Country Club. He scored net even par from gross of 94 strokes using the blind Callaway system of scoring. He received $200 and a trophy for his exceptional efforts. The event was organised by ParE Social club headed by Dodee Leones as President. It was presented by IDP Philippines and AIH Education as major sponsors.

Division winners were Aldrin Urfano (71) for A, Henry Puyat (72) for B and Luis Zaragoza (74) for C. As Division winners, they received $150 and trophies for their fantastic efforts.

Division runners up were Prescila Keogh (73) for A, Gus Gonzales (72) for B and Atoy Sayas (75) for C. Likewise, these runners up received $100 each. Novelty or hole winners were also awarded $20 each as cash prize.

There were 90 golfers who participated in this now considered the second biggest golf tournament in the Filipino-Australian golfing community in New South Wales. For the second time, the Blind Callaway format of scoring system was used. It is believed that by getting away from the usual handicapping system, there will be more participants specially the new comers. Although, this will entail a lot of time to summarise scores and determine the winners who are mostly done by count back.

Dodee Leones, President of ParE Social Golf club sincerely thanked all the officers and members, the participants, volunteers and sponsors of the 9th AICL Education Cup golf tournament. “The success of this tournament depends on all of your concerted efforts” he finally said.

Fil Trans-Tasman Golf Classic Meanwhile, the 3rd Fil Trans-Tasman Golf Classic held for two days on September 29 & 30 in Canberra was a huge success. There were more than 40 golfers coming from Auckland, Sydney and Canberra who fought hard for the prestigious trophies and the honour of representing either Kiwi or Aussie as the country champion.

The first day was played at Gold Creek Country club followed by Gungahlin Lakes Golf club on the second day, where the awarding took place preceded by lunch. Welcome dinner was courtesy of Ariel Pattugalan (past president of FilCom) and was held at his residence on Saturday night to the delight of all participants, their wives and invited guests.

The 2012 Fil Trans-Tasman Golf Classic champion was New Zealand with score of 8-2 using stableford points and match play to determine the final score. It was a sweep by the Kiwis from the start having 4-1 score on the first day and repeated on the second day.

In conjunction with this event was the revival of the Canberra-Sydney Challenge which is now on its 21st year, having been off for five years. It was won by Sydney golfers with final score of 17-5 using stableford scoring system.

Over-all individual champion was Alex Ferrera from the Kiwis. This was followed up by Gaddee Soriano from Fil-Oz Sydney as runner up.

First day winners and the city they represent were Roy Boquiron (AKL) and Rex Duller (CBR) as Division A & B champions, respectively. Followed by Raybert Rodriguez (AKL) and Nep Palomo (SYD) as Division A & B runners up.

Second day winners and the city they represent were Jimmy Wong (AKL) and Toti Umali (CBR) as Division A & B champions, respectively. Followed by Kent Wang (CBR) and Nelson Catig (SYD) as Division A & B runners up.

Nearest the pins, longest drive and best drive & pitch winners were also awarded sleeve of golf balls as their prizes.

The Kiwis were headed by Roy Boquiron as PGC President assisted by Noel Cosio as team captain. On the Aussie side, it was headed by Toti Umali as President of FilCom Sports Club of ACT (host club) assisted by Ric de Vera as President of Fil-Oz Social golf club of Sydney.

“I would like to thank Toti Umali, FilCom sports club of ACT President for hosting and accommodating us leaving no stone unturned. Likewise to Ric de Vera in collaboration with Arne Go for starting this Trans-Tasman golf event” said Roy Boquiron on behalf of the Kiwi team.

The 4th Fil Trans-Tasman Golf Classic is slated to be held in Wellington, New Zealand in September 2014. This will be hosted by the PGA of Wellington.